1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to data communication devices which run multiple data communication applications simultaneously which, in turn, cause data to be transferred over data communication channels having limited bandwidths.
2. Description of Related Art
There are a broad variety of data communication devices, such as smart cell phones, laptop computers, PDAs, and desktop computers. These devices often run data communication applications, such as applications that stream multimedia content, applications that aide in navigation (usually in mobile data communication devices), web surfing application that receive automated data updates from websites, texting applications, file transfer applications, and messaging applications.
Many data communication devices are capable of running multiple data communication applications at the same time. Many users take advantage of this multi-tasking functionality. Sometimes, however, the rate of data transfer may not be satisfactory. For example, freezes may be experienced while media is being streamed and file transfers may be too slow.
When these problems arise, the user may not know what is causing them and, in turn, what needs to be done to solve them. Some users may close one or more some applications in hopes that this will improve the performance of those that remain open. Sometimes, however, the problem lies at the other end of the communication channel. The bandwidth that was being used by closed applications may also be so small that their closure does not result in any significant improvement. Thus, randomly closing applications may not help, but may only result in the benefits provided by these closed applications being lost. In still other cases, the user may not know what action to take to solve the problem, but may instead just endure the consequences of poor application performance.